Artificial rain planned to offset Tainan water issues

TAIPEI -- Grappling with dwindling water supplies in the southern city of Tainan, water resource officials are planning to give Mother Nature a helping hand by artificially increasing rainfall coming on an approaching weather front.

Water deposits have dropped below the 50 percent mark at the city's Nanhua and Wusanto reservoirs and neighboring Chiayi County's Zengwen Reservoir, the deputy chief of the South Region Water Resources Office of the Water Resources Agency said Sunday.

Lin Yuan-peng said that while the area has received some rain recently, almost all of it was absorbed into the excessively dry ground.

The Central Weather Bureau forecasts rain before the end of the month, which Lin said his office plans to artificially boost.

If successful, the measure could help the southern city of 1.88 million get through its dry season, which lasts until the end of June, Lin estimated.